I encountered a couple people over the weekend and ended up having a discussion about the environment. This girl I had met spoke about how a prehistoric fish that is found great lakes that are sometimes 100 years old and grow up to 6 feet. As of now they are on the endangered species list. The fish was called a Lake sturgeon.
The girl was explaining how she was going to do an internship this summer to help these amazing fish breed. She explained how these fish were very particular in the way that they breed. Temperature, age, time, etc. all had to be to these fish ideal conditions for them to be willing to breed. I was interested in learning about something I had new.
Another girls asked why are you going to help these fish that should die anyways, she said that she should have evolved, and if they haven’t evolved they should just die out. People shouldn’t try to keep something alive that is just going to end up dying.
The girl explained how we have changed things about the environment so that it does not make for ideal conditions for these fish. She explained how water temperatures are higher then they used to be and that is due to the actions of humans.
I explained how it does not take a couple years of even tens of years for a species to evolve. The fish can not noticed the high temperatures and just change the way they breed right away. We are messing up their water conditions, so I think it is great for people to try to help them survive. We shouldn’t just let amazing prehistoric fish die, if we can help them.
She then came into a bit more of an understanding. However, I couldn’t help but realize by the words that were said how ignorant she really was about our environment and how important even fish are. Every single animal/insect has such an important role in our ecosystem and it did not seem that she realized that. If we can spread a little knowledge to others. Even if it is just a little at a time, maybe people will think twice about the things they can do to help.
Educate others whenever you can and let them know about the world around them.
